ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey should consider bringing back the death penalty, a decade after Ankara abolished capital punishment as part of reforms aimed at European Union membership. Political commentators accused Erdogan of populism ahead of the 2014 presidential election in which he is widely expected to run. His comments, in a speech on Sunday, follow an upsurge in Kurdish militant violence which has raised pressure on the govt to act over a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since it began 28 years ago. “In the face of deaths, murders, if necessary the death penalty should be brought back to the table,” Erdogan told a crowd.
Turkey abolished the death penalty in peacetime in 2002 under reforms aimed at EU membership. It was abolished totally in 2004, two years after Erdogan’s AK Party came to power.
Abolition of the death penalty is a pre-condition for EU entry. But Turkey’s progress towards EU membership has ground to a virtual halt in recent years amid opposition from France and Germany and Erdogan has become increasingly dismissive of the bloc, focusing instead on Turkey’s role as a regional power.
So has Turkey finally given up on EU membership? Afer so many years and reforms, Ankara seems to have realised that its entry into EU may actually never happen.
Turkey is only a handful of countries growing at 6% p.a. It is on the right path to develop and be a major regional player. It should grow bigger, better than EU countries and then dominate the region. Also, France and Germany.
Personally, Turkey should sign a similar deal as Switzerland has with the EU. The prerequisite now is to join the Euro if you want to be part of the union. Why on earth would a country want to give away monetary policy. Even now EU want to centralise more powers to Brussels.
Turkey should stay independent and as a model for Muslim Ummah to follow. Recent investment grade rating from Fitch after 1994 is proof enough of Turkey growing economical clout with second largest standing army in NATO after USA, i am seeing a great power emerging.